Bobby Travis · NASCAR/IndyCar Correspondent
Two of the most important minds behind Chip Ganassi Racing's IndyCar dominance are packing their bags at the end of the season, and their next employer appears to be Arrow McLaren.
Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR) will lose two central figures from its technical leadership at the end of the season: performance director Chris Simmons and race engineer Ross Bunnell are leaving the IndyCar team. According to a report by Racer.com, Simmons is set to move to Arrow McLaren once a contractual non-compete clause has expired, and Bunnell is also expected to join the rival team. For CGR, which has won six of the last seven drivers' titles under Simmons' leadership, it is a heavy blow in the middle of the most successful period in the team's recent history.
Chris Simmons: the architect behind the winning streak
Simmons has been one of the defining figures in the Ganassi camp since the 2000s. As a race engineer he won three titles and two Indy 500s with Dario Franchitti and two more titles with Scott Dixon, two of the most successful names in the team's history. Since 2020, as performance director, he has been responsible across the team for technical development and performance analysis, exactly the kind of work behind the scenes that makes the difference over a full season.
Under his leadership, CGR won six of the last seven IndyCar drivers' titles, with Dixon and with Alex Palou. That is no footnote, it is the signature of a man who has set the technical direction of a top team for years. The fact that he is now expected to move to Arrow McLaren after his non-compete clause expires therefore hits CGR not at some random point, but at the core of the organization.
Ross Bunnell: the engineer who won the Indy 500
Bunnell worked as Scott Dixon's race engineer at CGR in 2023 and 2024 before being loaned to partner team Meyer Shank Racing for 2025 and 2026 as part of the team alliance. There he worked with Felix Rosenqvist and won the 2026 Indianapolis 500 with him, one of the most prestigious victories on the entire IndyCar calendar.
Right after the season finale at Laguna Seca, Bunnell told CGR he was leaving, and Dixon had previously been openly critical of his engineer's move to Meyer Shank. According to RACER, Bunnell is expected to work with Scott Dixon again at Arrow McLaren, as Dixon is also moving there, and Rosenqvist will race for the team in future as well. That reinforces the impression that this is not an isolated case, but a targeted grab for concentrated engineering know-how.
What the exodus means for CGR and Arrow McLaren
For Chip Ganassi Racing, losing Simmons and Bunnell at the same time is a massive technical drain, and it comes during a period in which the team has dominated the IndyCar championship for years. Who fills this gap, whether from inside or outside, is likely to play a key role in whether CGR can extend the winning streak of recent seasons.
For Arrow McLaren, led by Zak Brown and team principal Tony Kanaan, the presumed signing of both men is a huge coup on the road to its first IndyCar title and its first Indianapolis 500 win. If the moves are confirmed as reported, the rivalry between the two teams is likely to take on a very different tone next season, with two of the minds behind Ganassi's dominance standing on the other side of pit lane.
